She'll Sure Show Him
by SamNny
Summary: When he came in and stole her spotlight, she swore that she'd show him yet. Rimahiko


So there she was, completely alone, unaware of her surroundings. Curly blonde hair wiping back and forth and she turned in every possible direction. Left, right, up, down, left, right, up, down - she fell into a beautiful rhythm as she faced her "opponents." She tossed her juggling pins, one after the other, and watched as they nailed each and every one of her targets. She threw her tightrope and latched on to her stuffed bear and flung it around, releasing it in mid-air, and then she chucked one final pin. The bear exploded and stuffing fell from the sky as she gathered her things. She stood in the center of everything, perfectly poised, and eerily calm.

She was Rima Mashiro.

For the past several weeks, x-eggs have been appearing all over town. And for the past several weeks, she has been unable to do a thing about it. Amu was always the first one on scene. She reasoned with the eggs, while Tadase and Nagihiko rounded them up for her. When they were completely distracted, she'd blast them with her Open Heart attack and purify them. Yaya never did a whole lot to help, but that was to be expected. However, Rima, on the other hand, always considered herself one of Amu's greatest aids in purifying the eggs. Not anymore.

It could just be that she's been over thinking the whole thing, but it didn't seem to matter. All she knew was that she _wasn't _the one rounding all the eggs up with her Juggling Party and instead it was Nagihiko's Blaze Shoot. It boggled her mind how suddenly he... well, replaced her. When he "joined" the guardians, he didn't even have a guardian chara. He was just a normal elementary school boy that did his best to help out. When he got Rhythm, though, everything changed.

He became more graceful, more outgoing, stronger, and worst of all, he became a better help to Amu than Rima ever was. That's what started this mess. She tried to go on as best she could, but he always seemed to steal her thunder. So as of late, Rima has refused to undergo a chara transformation with KusuKusu in combat, and has opted to only change at home. She's been going out to the nearby park after dinner to practice. She always waited for the kids to leave with their parents for dinner and then she'd change and begin practice. She slowly started bringing objects out with her to use and targets and fake opponents, and in no time, she became a master marksman.

She was able to hit everything accurately more than once and she could keep up if the pace changed. She never missed. She was throwing the pins harder and gripping onto the tightrope even tighter to ensure that her opponent couldn't escape. Granted, she only had access to inanimate objects, but she could feel her body getting even stronger. She would go out day after day for weeks, staying out from about five o'clock till the street lights came on. She became completely engulfed in her training that she didn't even realize that she had been straying away from her friends.

Her attendance at guardian meetings became sporadic, because they interfered with her training time. She devoted less and less time to her school work and she barely managed to keep her grades up. She was unusually quiet during lunchtime and became very good at avoiding her friends questions as to her strange behavior. And although they all grew increasingly concerned for her, none of them were able to reach her. Yaya was easy to dodge by offering her candy, Tadase didn't want to press into her personal life, so she just ignored him, Amu was a bit tougher, but the constant distractions from Ikuto and Tadase kept her at bay so far, but... _he _was the problem.

_He _was the one she couldn't throw off her trail. He would always try and talk to her at meetings or lunchtime, he passed her notes in class, he walked with her out to her parent's car, he sent her text messages, and he even partnered up with her on class projects just to talk to her. The most irritating part of it all was that he never once lost his kindness and sincerity. It drove her mad! She would ignore him, change the subject, insult him, walk away, not answer his texts, pretend to not know him (even though everyone knew she did), and she even screamed at him a few times. He still wouldn't go away.

He was Nagihiko Fujisaki.

As much as he knew they were like oil and water, he couldn't leave Rima alone. He was rather appalled that his fellow guardians didn't have his persistence when it came to something as serious as this. With her sporadic attendance to meetings, and obvious struggle to keep her grades up, and her clear intention of avoiding _everyone_, he knew that there was something deeply wrong. And so if no one else cared about that rude, yet cute blonde girl, then it seemed that he would have to be the one to save her.

Don't misunderstand, though. Nagihiko knows full well the extent of Rima's powers and he respected her strength and regarded her as a force to be reckoned with. It didn't change the fact that she was rude, touchy, mysterious, and sometimes flat-out mean. Still, he regarded her as a friend anyway, and friends help their friends out whenever they can.

When he saw that his efforts to get her talk were failing, he opted for plan B. If he couldn't get her to say what was on her mind, he'd just have to see it. He got her address from Amu and decided to head over straight after their guardian meeting. She didn't show up, of course, and he was actually glad she didn't. He avoided having to basically follow her home that way. He clued Amu in on his plan and she wished him the best of luck, but told him not to press his. God only knows how Rima is going to react is she catches him.

She he walked along the path to his house until the other guardians were out of sight. Then he turned around and walked in the opposite direction to Rima's house. It was a bit of a walk, but he really didn't mind. When he saw the playground at the park, he knew he was almost there. It wasn't until he was at the entrance to the park, that he realized Rima wasn't home. He quickly dived behind some bushes, hoping to God his cover wasn't blown already. He peaked out and saw that Rima was just as focused as ever and he sweat-dropped. He watched as her intense golden eyes narrowed at her target before she tossed her pin.

He stayed hidden for several minutes and watched as she destroyed everything around her without breaking a sweat. This must be what she's been up to for the past couple of weeks. Finding her out here doing intense training really threw Nagihiko off and he wasn't exactly sure what to do next. If he ran away, he could be busted or he could get away safely but have accomplished nothing. However, if he stepped out and confronted her, she could aim her pins at him and probably knock him out. He wasn't blind to her newfound skill and strength.

Without even realizing it, Rima had walked over to the bush he was hiding behind and slammed her pin down, aiming for the top of his head. He shrieked, turned, and rolled quickly out of her way, just barely avoiding a nice blow to the head. He saw the intense hatred burning in her eyes and became noticeably terrified. He couldn't tell if she was mad that he was watching her or if it was because she just hated him that much. Probably a combination of both.

He tried to talk some sense into her as she readied all of her pins, but all he could do was stutter. She walked slowly towards him, her grip tightening on the pins with every passing second. Through her gritted teeth, she hissed, "Give me one good reason not to end you." She was seriously commanding him, threatening to basically murder him on the spot, if he didn't speak. He back away and put his hands up to show that he surrendered. Before she could take another step, he started babbling out his defense.

"Miss Mashiro, please wait! I know that you're furious, and I'm sorry that I snuck up on you. I wasn't trying to be creepy, and I know that I've been getting on your case about whatever's been bothering you, but you have to understand! We're all worried about you and you won't tell us what's wrong. Not even Amu! We just want to help you, so please talk to us. We're your friends!"

He held his eyes shut tight and blocked his face with his arms. He was preparing for her to strike him with her pins and then strangle him with her tightrope, but nothing ever came. He waited and waited until he finally lowered his arms and opened his eyes. When he did, she ran at him full force, dropping her pins, and she grabbed him by the collar and rammed him into the ground. KusuKusu changed back from Clown Drop, leaving Rima in her school uniform, and watched in horror as her owner threw the defenseless boy to the ground.

She hovered over him, eyes wide with fury, showing her gritted teeth. She really did look like she was going to kill him. She stayed frozen in that position for what seemed like forever. Nagihiko had his hands on her wrists to push her back if she started shaking or choking him, but nothing happened. After a little while of being in suspense, Nagihiko watched as a single tear rolled down her face. Her eyes glossed over and tears formed at the brim of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. He let go of her wrists and let his hands fall to his sides as he said, "Rima..."

"It's your fault. This whole thing is your fault. Everything was going fine until you got your stupid guardian chara. Then you came in and stole the spotlight and now Amu doesn't need me. You and Tadase have taken over and I became useless. I've been practicing endlessly for weeks just to beat you and reclaim what is mine, but I can't seem to do it. You're still faster and stronger than me," she choked out.

His eyes widened and softened at the realization of what this was all about. Without even knowing it, he made her feel inferior. He came in to save the day when it was Rima that wanted to all along. With her parents fighting so much, her home life was rough and unenjoyable, so when she got to be with her friends and help purify x-eggs, she felt wanted and useful. He stole that from her.

He watched as another tear fell and landed on his cheek. It was painful for him to see her cry like this. He used his thumb to wipe her tears away and then gently pushed her off of him. She balled her fists and hid her face, curling up into herself as if she was trying to hide from him. He couldn't help but notice how pretty her hair was with the fading sunlight reflecting off of it. Even though she was curled up in her own ball of sorrow, he couldn't help but think those kinds of thoughts about her. The way her skin felt so soft as he gripped her wrists, the way her intense eyes stopped his heart from beating, and the way her petite frame looked so strong when she stared him down... It was as if he just now realized how pretty she was.

He slowly crawled over to her, praying that he wouldn't startle her, and carefully wrapped one arm around her shoulders, while he used his hand to stroke her hair. She flinched at first, but then she relaxed and kept trying calm herself down. He leant down by her face and almost whispered in her ear, "I'm so sorry, Rima. It was never my intention to do that to you."

She looked up at him, eyes puffy and red, and the only thing she could think to say was, "Since when did you start calling me by my first name?"

His cheeks flushed a bright red color as he backed off and started babbling. He started apologizing, saying that it was an accident, it just sort of happened, he wasn't trying to offend her, etc. And all she could do was stare and laugh. In fact, she laughed so hard that she started crying again. After getting over the shock that she wasn't hitting him, his blush faded down into a light pink color as he admired how cute her laugh was. He even found himself laughing after a little while.

So when they both settled down, they stared up at the sky, and Rima gasped at how dark it was.

"Oh, no, I'm going to be in trouble!"

She quickly scrambled to her feet and took off running, leaving Nagihiko to call after her. He bolted up as well and caught up to her in no time at all. He knew how protective her parents were over her and he also knew that they would freak out if she wasn't home soon. So he ran with her up to her door and watched as she fumbled around to open it. Before she ran inside, he said, "Miss Mashiro?"

"What, what is it? And don't call me that. You can call me Rima."

"Really?"

"Nagihiko, what do you need? I'm already going to be in trouble."

"I just wanted to apologize. To be honest, I always thought you were a much stronger person than I was. I just wanted to help Amu; I had no intention of stealing your spotlight."

Her eyes softened and she rolled them at how cheesy he was being.

"I'll forgive you this one time, Nagihiko. But you should know that all my training isn't going to waste. Next time we have to fight, I'll be sure to show you up."

He smiled at her, thankful to hear her say that. She smiled, too, as he gave her a thumbs up. She could hear her parents calling for her as she opened the door. She took one last look at the boy in front of her before saying, "It's a promise for sure," and then gave him a quick peck on the cheek. She slammed the door and went to calm her parents, who only seemed to yell more upon seeing her. And even though he didn't like the fact that she was being screamed at, he couldn't help but smile like an idiot as he held the spot on his cheek where her lips had touched. He took one last look at her door before walking away, grinning like a complete moron.

"You better keep that promise, Rima."

* * *

"A/N: I don't know where this idea came from, but I was dying to write something today and I've been reading Shugo Chara fic's all day. I really wanted to write another Amuto story, but I decided it would be better to try a Rimahiko one. I really hope you guys like it, I tried to keep everyone in character as best I could and I hope I didn't end up rushing this. Those two things are what I tried my hardest to avoid. Maybe this whole thing came to be, because of all the horrible Shugo Chara fic's I've read. Every single one of them was rushed, or OOC, or the author didn't use spell/grammar check. I'm not perfect or anything, but I tried my best to make this a well-written story. Enough of my babbling, though, I hope you enjoyed this and I'd appreciate it very much if you left me a review. Thanks a bunch!"


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